


Corbin: Redemption

by Enigma13



Series: Superhero AU WWE Stories and One Shots [5]
Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/M, Gen, Multi, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-03-22 07:49:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13759566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enigma13/pseuds/Enigma13
Summary: A family curse, a very driven employee, a one sided friendship, and a vacation to the depths of hell. Becky's life is so weird.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter of the next installment! The end of this story will set up the next one and it'll be pretty linear from here forward! I hope you guys are excited as I am!

When Baron woke up naked and covered in the blood, he already knew what had happened, but not how it had happened. Last he remembered he had locked himself in the panic room at the garage, but somehow the beast had gotten out of that and… well, the blood, he knew, was most likely human. He had stalled too long in finding a permanent fix and this stupid family curse had finally won. He pushed himself up and looked around. 

There was a small rustic cabin nearby. The door had been kicked open and shattered, and spread across the field between him and the cabin were the bodies of several hunters that he knew without looking that he’d slaughtered. He couldn’t bring himself to look away from the carnage and promptly vomited into the dirt. He stumbled forward, trying not to trip over the bodies until he got to the cabin’s door. He stumbled in, finding another body, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, only to clothe himself and get the fuck out of there. He needed to figure out how his panic room lock had failed so that this wouldn’t happen again.

He found some clothes that fit him and slumped against the wall. He couldn’t believe… it’d been so long since he had this bad of an episode… it was getting worse. His mom used to tell him stories about his dad, how he’d held out hope that each time he could conquer the family curse, but she also told him that each time the beast escaped and shed blood that it got harder and harder, until his dad ditched them, embraced the beast, and let it change who he was to the point he didn’t care who he hurt. His mom always told him that the more blood the beast shed, the more evil acts it performed, the more it consumed the person inside’s soul until it was ripped in two and thrown down into the depths of hell to let the beast do as it pleased. His father had died like an animal when they finally cornered him and put him down, and now Baron was heading the same way if he couldn’t figure out how to control this. His soul was in jeopardy if this happened again. 

He stepped outside and looked around, his senses were still heightened from the transformation, he turned his nose up to the air and sniffed, trying to find civilization, and trying to not smell the bloody copper-like smell coming from the bodies. He could smell the pungent stench of the city coming from the east. He sighed and started stumbling that way, ignoring the bodies. He needed to get back to the shop, make it look like a beak it had occurred, and fix his lock before the next full moon. He needed to figure this thing out, or his soul was lost to hell, just as his dad’s was, and his father’s before him.

 

3 Months Later

 

Becky knew her boss was a private guy. She barely knew anything about him and all efforts to try to get to know him after work were shot down by her super hero duties, and before that, by his bad attitude and apparent distaste for her on a cellular level. That didn’t stop him from hiring her. She knew her way around mechanical items like no one else, so her skill certainly off put her personality as far as Baron was concerned.

Still, ever since the minor break in a couple months ago, he had been even worse. Snapping at his employees, more time in his office and less time working on cars. She was growing sick of it. Clearly something from his personal life was getting to him, and Becky was adamant to find out what was happening. She knew that he had a rough past and was hoping he hadn’t gotten in deep with any bad people or wasn’t involved in anything that might make her have to call the cops on him, or worse, fight him. So that’s how she found herself following him. It wasn’t stalking cause she was doing it out of love for her friend, no matter what Dean called it.

She frowned, looking down at her phone checking the time, it was way past their work hours and yet he was still in his office, light burning at seven in the evening. The sun was just going down, and the moon was just coming up, full and bright. Becky looked up, trying to see some stars through the smoky haze of the city’s pollution. She couldn’t see any, not like when she’d been back in Ireland. She could see thousands of them lying on the grass outside her house. It was times like these that she grew more curious about where her powers came from, if Dusty had truly meant for the four of them to gain powers from his ship, and his home. Two of them had already done horribly evil things with their powers, and she couldn’t help but feel like all of them might be unworthy to be trusted with them. It must have been a fluke or something. However, that was no reason for her to do nothing. She had these powers now, and Charlotte and Sasha already wasted them, she wouldn’t join them. She’d do some good with this fluke she’d been given.

A loud crash sounded from the mechanics shop. Her head snapped down as she watched through her goggles, something moved in the light. It looked vaguely like Baron, but it seemed to stagger and toss around as if in pain. Becky swung down, using the heat from the flames she pushed out of her hands to keep her moving slow enough to the ground, thank God for updraft, and pushed herself against the building. She kicked the door of her work open after pausing to listen to the anguished cries that came from Baron, and looked around. The door to his office was locked tight, the keypad and vault like lock, staring at her dauntingly. He was locked inside, but something had to be in there with him, making him cry out like that. It only took one more scream for her to decide.

She put out her pointer finger, lit it with a super-heated flame and began to cut through the steel, like she’d seen in Star Wars (Dean’s idea). It was a long process, one where even she began sweating from effort, but finally, the lock was cut clean through and he reached to open the door up. She didn’t get far before it was violently thrown to the side, sending her crashing into the far wall. She groggily stood up, holding her head, trying to see through the dust that had settled in the air.

Standing there, in the light of the office, was Baron, though not the one she’d known for a couple years. His head was bowed, elongated against his chest like the jowls of a wolf. His tattoos stood out, but thick brown fur grew along side it, making it stand out even more, as thick muscles threated to rip his clothes more than they already were. It placed a clawed hand against the wall as it stumbled forward, seemingly fighting itself on every movement.

Becky stood and stared. “Baron… what the…” The moment she’d opened her mouth, his eyes bored into her and he snarled. 

“Run…” He tried to growl out before he bent over in more pain. Becky couldn’t move. It was like watching a horrible accident. She couldn’t look away. Baron coughed up more blood, as his body continued to shift. The next time he looked up, she didn’t recognize his eyes anymore, they were just gold, and angry.

Soon after that, the wracking shivers of his body stopped, and he stood up straight, letting out an almost pleased growl. Becky still stood there, shocked and wide-eyed under her goggles. The creatures eyes never left her, and it was only the small movement of it’s feet spreading apart that warned Becky it was going to move. 

With unbridled fury and speed it leapt at her, claws out, jaw open and salivating.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A valiant fight, a friendly rescue, and planning the next move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrght! I still suck at fight scenes! I hope you guys do like this though! I'm not sure how long this story will be cause I didn't break this one up into chapters in my outline, just what I want to happen! So, enjoy this chapter!

Monster Baron (name patent pending) had really bad breath. Becky noticed that as she rolled forward under his flying form, letting him impact the wall where she had been a moment before. She came up on one knee and lit both her hands on fire, knowing her hair was already smoldering at the ends, preparing for a fight. “Down boy, we can talk about this!”

Baron didn’t like that joke as much as she did, as he pulled himself out of the indent he made in the wall. He turned and let out a loud growl, starting to move forward. Becky put her hands together, letting both flames burn into each other before blowing out towards the wolf man, making him stumble backwards in surprise. She kept the jet of flames going, making sure distract and block herself from view as she tried to move herself right in front of the panic room, hoping to lure him back into it and keep the beast somewhat contained. She stopped the flames and let the wolf’s eyes adjust to the light again. 

She knew the second that he saw her, as he bared his fangs and stalked closer. She kept where she was, still looking that she was going to put up a fight, and when the beast lunge, she repeated what she did the last time, looking to roll under, but she knew that it was smarter than it seemed the moment that she felt its claws dig into her back, ripping her incredibly durable trench coat that Sasha had designed like it was made of paper. However, its momentum still carried it over her and into the back wall of the panic room. It’s head hit the walls that were meant to hold it hard and it slumped to the ground. 

Becky pushed the heavy doors back in place and quickly started melting the steel so that it would act like a lock since she’d removed the true lock. She didn’t know how long this would hold it, but hopefully long enough that she could contact some back up. Speaking of back up, she tapped her communicator. 

“Dean?”

“Becky? What’s up, we are all at Cactus Jack’s getting a beer, where you at?”

“So you know how you told me that stalking my boss to see what was up wouldn’t lead anywhere and something bad would happen?”

“Yeah?” He had that lilt to his voice that always made her feel like he was her caretaker and not her friend. Like he knew better. God, he was insufferable when he was right.

She winced as the monster charged at the door, making it rattle, but so far the melted steel held together. She increased her pace, feeling the blood roll down in rivulets down her back. “You were half right?”

“Which half?”

“The second part, is that really a priority right now?” She scoffed, annoyed by the question. “I need you guys here, ASAP!”

She could already hear Dean moving and collecting the others, through the com link and felt the reverberation through her spine when the monster threw himself against the door again, making the metal whine. She backed up, not really hearing the questions that Dean asked her over the growl coming from inside the panic room as the beast threatened to break out. All she could do was mumble. “Might want to bring silver.” Before the door flew open, hitting her full force and throwing her backwards where she landed under one of the car lifts. She could only look up hazily, stars dancing in her eyes, before the lift squealed in protest and collapsed sending the car hurtling down at her. Then she only saw black.

 

“On three! One! Two! Three!” Becky was still groggy, her head hurt like a bitch, but she could tell the change in lighting even with how concussed she was. She recognized Dean’s voice through the haze in her mind and squinted as she stared up at the faces of her teammates. They all looked exhausted, whether that was from fighting Baron or just moving the car from off of her, she didn’t know.

Johnny bent down and looked her over. “Bad concussion, some bad cuts… she’s lucky that the lift took the impact and just the recoil hit her or she’d be paste.”

Candice slapped him on the back of the head. “That’s not supportive!” He cried out and glared at her, even as they pulled her completely free. Dean leaned over her with a look of concern while Willow simply grinned madly at her from behind him. Dean shook her a bit, trying to help her shake the haze off. “I’m guessing your distress signal was because of the wolf man? Cause if not, we just caused a ton of property damage for nothing.”

Becky groaned and tried to push herself up. “Yeah… something happened to Baron to turn him into that thing…”

Johnny gave her a wide-eyed look, “Dude, that was your boss? Bet after fighting with him you’re in the dog house.”

There was a palpable silence, Candice dropped her face into her hands, Dean sighing in that put upon way he always did, even Willow stopped grinning to give Johnny a weird look.

Johnny just sighed and waved his hand. “Yeah, I know, leave the cartoony shit at the door. You guys are no fun.”

Becky, with Dean and Candice’s help, stood up and tried to shake off the cobwebs. “Where is he?”

Dean took this as his initiative to start filling her in, making sure that they were moving now that they were beginning to hear sirens coming their way. “Well, we came from the bar, and when we got here we got a car thrown at us.” He shrugged, “Not the worst way we’ve been greeted. We took him on, Johnny tagged him a couple times with some arrows, but it did basically nothing. I was able to get a few licks in, but we were more concerned with you, so when he took to the rooftops and started to head out of the city we let him be until we could get you out of here and figure out why you’re dicking around with werewolves like some middle schooler with the Twilight books.”

“Those books are a treasure!” Becky looked over to see Candice looking very affronted at Dean’s comment. Dean looked at Johnny for explanation and Johnny just slung his bow on his back a faux serious look on his face, as he kept a look out as they moved. 

“Dude, don’t even try to argue with her. I never win. I doubt you will.” 

When they were finally in a familiar alley, or what looked to be a familiar alley, Becky finally shook off Candice’s and Dean’s help. She staggered, but kept herself upright. “Something is wrong with Baron. He locked himself in his office and I heard screams. That beast thing came out and… he’s still in there somewhere fighting it.”

Dean looked at the others worriedly. “Bex, that thing put up the toughest fight we’d ever seen… its totally feral.”

“No, I saw him in there. You have to believe me” She looked at each of them. Johnny and Candice the newest members to the team shared a look a shrugged. Willow didn’t seem to care for the conversation at all, just kept running his hands along the brick wall, mumbling to himself. Dean stared at her hard for a second.

“Alright, I believe you. But we still know nothing about this. Werewolves in real life might be nothing like the ones in stories. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that going to the Finn and the Sentinels is the right move here.” They all shared a significant look. They didn’t need to speak Hunter’s name to know that’s what was causing them to refrain. The possibilities if he got his hands on that kind of power… “And I don’t know anyone else that knows shit about this stuff so I don’t know what to do.”

Becky frowned and leaned her head back against the wall. “I don’t know either… But Baron is a… decent person. He was trying to fight it and that’s worth something, right?”

She was met by silence, but she knew her words had impact. They’d been fighting together for some amount of time now and they wanted to help. Yeah, sometimes that was kicking ass and taking names, but sometimes it was listening and believing in some kid that was just in over his head and giving him a chance that he’d never gotten before. 

Candice cleared her throat. They all turned to look at her and she suddenly looked completely uncomfortable with all the attention. Becky guessed that being a former cat burglar and spy did that to a person. She was the most closed off person of all of them. Becky didn’t think she’d be here if it wasn’t for Johnny, but Candice had the desire to help, she just didn’t have the practice yet. They were all trying to encourage and befriend her so that she felt welcome. After all, when someone goes out of their comfort zone to do good, even when they don’t really know how, that should be rewarded and encouraged if at all possible. She cleared her throat again after an encouraging squeeze of her hand from Johnny and gave them all a more confident look, that mischievous spark coming back to her eyes. 

“I may know someone who could help us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh! Candice has a lot of contacts from her past life! Who will it be?! And with Baron's transformation, is his soul even still in the body of the beast? Or is it in hell? And where is the beast? We find out more history on Baron's curse, if they can save him, and more on the next installment of the Superhero AU!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Candace knows people. Weird people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! I spent a whole weekend watching March Madness and I wrote this during the half time shows! :D It's actually one of the longer chapters that I've written for this one and I hope you like it! Sadly, a lot of exposition, but it has some nice little nods in there if you know where to look!

The old store gave Becky the creeps if she was being honest. It seemed like the kind of thing that the stupid college students went into to make fun of or steal from the register only for some creepy ghost lady to murder them all in a gory horror movie. Yet, Candace seemed at home, knowing which shelves to duck behind in the cramped little store. Becky wasn’t even sure how Candace knew that they were open. Not only was there no sign over the door, but also it looked like all the lights were off. However, as they ducked behind a dusty tome-filled bookcase, an old lady stood leaning on a cane. Becky flinched, as she felt Dean and Willow both tense up behind her, but Johnny, who was walking hand in hand with Candace yelped and cowered behind his girlfriend at the sudden appearance of the old lady.

“Well… Candace, so many friends. Can’t say this was unexpected, but even when you know things will happen, that does not always prepare you for the reality of it.” She gave Candace a once over, “You look happy. About time.” 

Candace smiled kindly at the old lady, affection clear in her voice. “And you still look old, Miss Young.”

Miss Young simply quirked an eyebrow. “Well, no matter what magics I go with, none that I’m willing to try would reverse any of it.” She tilted her head, overlooking the rest of them. “Becky Lynch, Jeff Hardy, Dean Ambrose, and little Johnny Gargano.” She ignored Johnny’s affronted grunt. “You’re here about the Werewolf?”

Becky looked at Candace. “How does she know us?”

Candace bit her lip. “I’ve never been able to figure it out. She says magic.” Candace actually looked like she might believe it. “And, if she already knows why we’re here, I bet she’s got info on what exactly is going on.”

Miss Young nodded, “Indeed I do. Come, I need to sit, and this could be a long story. I sense lots of questions too.” She turned and started to hobble towards the back, pushing back the beads on the door behind the old wooden counter that held the register. Candace followed immediately. They all looked at each other and followed seconds after.

She felt Johnny lean over and nervously whisper, “Remind me never to piss Candace off… she could hex me or some shit.” Becky snickered, shoving him back a little. “I’d be more worried about her taking a direct approach and just kicking your ass.” Johnny smiled, shrugging. Becky liked that about him. She was still in a great amount of pain from the fight with Baron earlier, but Johnny didn’t just bring his excellent tactics and marksmanship to the team. He brought humor, heart, and life. Able to make them laugh in the direst situations was one of the most valued things by Becky’s standards. This life could drive people crazy, just look at all the heroes turned villains out there, having someone that could keep you sane was invaluable.

She passed through the beads and came into a small kitchen. Seemed Miss Young’s shop doubled as her living space as well. She looked at some of the photos of what looked like Miss Young as a young lady. They were in black and white, seemed older than even a lady at Miss Young’s age would have… unless that was her mother in these photos. Becky shook it off. That wasn’t why they were here.

Miss Young was already seated, hands folded over the handle of her cane. They each took a seat at one of the chairs that seemed set up for them. Miss Young even brought an extra for Becky to put her legs up on to rest them from the ache that was setting in, almost like Miss Young expected company. 

“So… you have questions. I suppose, to answer most of them, I should simply start with Baron’s family… issues.” She leaned back. “The Corbin family line traces back many years. They were an influential family in England, even back when it was just a bunch of squabbling tribes. Most of their sons became druids of the old druidic order. One of Baron’s forefathers abused that power. Invoked something he shouldn’t have, and without giving you a detailed review of magic and how it works, placed a curse on himself and his blood line. It’s where we get our legend of werewolves. Every full moon, something would come over them and they’d turn into that beast you saw.” She paused, looking far off now, as if remembering. “They’d commit heinous acts, and remember none of it, but for the evidence that they woke up to. It is a manifestation of a second entity born inside everyone of Corbin’s line. And because it doesn’t warp his soul, but is in fact almost a second one living in one body, it eventually wears down the host’s soul to the point that it casts it out into the pits of damnation and keeps the body in the beast-like state.” She turns her head to Becky and smiles grimly. “Baron Corbin now sits in the fire and shadow of the underworld, while his new bestial body will wreak untold horrors upon this world until it is killed.”

They all sat in silence as Miss Young finished the tale. There was a lot to unpack here, from the fact that apparently a type of hell was real, to the fact that her boss was dead, apparently. She closed her eyes, quietly mourning for Baron until Dean broke the silence. “And Baron doesn’t have a kid? This will be the last werewolf in the world?”

Miss Young tilted her head. “Yes, in fact, I was most surprised. Once people in Baron’s line find out about the curse, they usually become incredibly jaded to the world. They usually turn to a life of crime and desire, seeking to make their short time on earth pleasurable.” She rolled her eyes as if that was a normal sentence anyone might say during a normal day. “But Baron was a curious case. When he found out about it, he became a loner. He knew the collateral damage that could happen if he grew close to anyone, so he isolated himself and put himself wholly into his interests. Built that panic room to stop the damage of the beast for as long as possible. The more destruction it causes, the more evil it puts into the world, the faster the second soul takes over, so he took precautions. So, no, he doesn’t have a child, because he knows that it would be passed down. I suppose his bravery and thoughtfulness can be marveled at now that he’s gone.”

Becky bristled at the casual way Miss Young said that. “Hey! That’s my friend! You can’t just-“ She felt Candace’s hand on her knee, stopping her. Candace took over. 

“How do we stop this thing, Miss Young? Can it be stopped?”

“Of course.” She stopped after that, not saying anything. Even Candace looked annoyed now. 

“Well? What is it?” Dean leaned forward. Becky clenched her hands, her hair starting to smolder as her emotions ebbed and flowed at the thought of having to stop her friend’s body. Especially after the strength she felt from it in their first battle.

“Why would I tell you that?” She tilted her head, eyes locking with Becky, and for the first time, the look in her eyes, was something between calculating and amusement. “Especially when this one wants to save her friend. Would that not be the heroic thing to do?”

Becky stood up, placing her hands on the table, not caring now that she was getting in this old lady’s face. “Stop playing games. Talk. Now.” She knew that her braids on the side of her head had little flames licking in them, but she didn’t care. If there was a chance that Baron could be saved, then Becky definitely wanted to go for it. Despite his standoffish attitude, Becky had always liked her surly boss. Now, knowing the personal and social sacrifices of a man who was effectively doomed to die young and in disrepute… well, she empathized. 

Miss Young looked at her, not even flinching, as the flames grew larger. Her eyes flashed blue and Becky felt herself go weak in the knees, energy seeping out of her body as if sucked up by a vacuum. The flames on the ends of her hair snuffed out immediately with a quiet hiss of smoke. She collapsed back in her chair, eyes wide at the display of simple power by the old woman. “Respect your elders, Miss Lynch. We don’t get to have as much fun as the rest of you, so I take my amusement where I can get it.” The others, except Candace, were watching Miss Young with a whole new level of trepidation. Her magic or power was not to be trifled with. Her eyes died down and the oppressive feeling of “But, yes, there is a way to possibly save your friend. Though, it will require a team effort, and a bit of risk.” She finally leaned back, looking tired now. “Some of you will need to track down the beast, fight it and weaken it as much as you can. The others will be occupied getting your friend’s soul back.”

Johnny spoke up this time, clearing his throat awkwardly and sounding like he was hoping that he was wrong. “Didn’t you say his soul was cast into a realm of…” 

“Fire and shadow.” Candace piped in helpfully.

“Yeah, that.” He visibly gulped. “So how do we go about getting it back?”

Miss Young looked amused again, and it made Becky seriously consider never helping an old lady across the street again. “Well, you travel to that realm yourselves and take it, of course. Though, I imagine you’ll face some trials of some sort. I don’t make a habit of going there too often.”

Becky felt hope starting to crackle in her chest. “And we get the soul back and it’s all fixed?”

The arcanist shook her head. “Of course not. Then you must release it against the beast, and hope that your friend is strong enough to overpower the weakened second soul. If so, he should be able to reclaim his body, and after that, well, I’m not too sure. It’s not like this has been done before.”

Becky looked at Dean, who was watching her. She gave him a small look of pleading, knowing her puppy dog face was hard to resist, and he sighed, “Alright. That’s what we’ll try then.” He looked at Miss Young. “You sending us there?”

“Little old me? No.” She looked behind her. “I did call someone who can though, someone more experienced in that area of magic than I am. Come on out here, dear.” 

Becky looked up as a large man, his face painted like a skull, and a lopsided top hat on his head ambled his way through the beads to stand behind Miss Young who was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “Heroes, this is Papa Shango, and he is here to give you, and forgive the glee in which I say this, a highway to hell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is Mae getting at? And what's this realm of shadow and fire like? Will Johnny and Candace continue their lovely cute banter? Which of the team gets to fight Baron and which goes down to hell? Find out next time!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Portals and teleporting. Two very different missions. Mae is spoopy and have alternate goals. What are they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Sorry about the long time it took to do this. I had it half finished for a couple weeks, but I just... I procrastinate a lot. But, I am happy with what I've got here and I know more about where this story is going after thinking about it for a long long while. I hope you like this and the next update shouldn't be too far behind, I promise this time!  
> Enjoy!

“This is how horror movies start.” 

Becky looked over at Dean and sighed. He’d been complaining ever since Papa Shango had started to set up the ritual, drawing with brimstone and salt all around the cleared out floor of one of Mae Young’s back rooms. So far the ritual looked like two spires in the middle of a square with two posts, candles on each of the four corners, like a boxing or wrestling ring. The brimstone smelled awful and Papa Shango hadn’t said a word since he arrived. All in all, it was creeping Becky the fuck out.

“You’re being a baby.”

Dean scoffed, “Yeah, we’ll just mosey on down to hell, grab your boss’ soul, who barely likes you at all, bring it up, hope our teammates haven’t gotten killed by his body and hope he can overpower the second soul and then we’ll all hold hands and skip into the sunset. Typical Friday fucking night.”

Becky gave Dean a weird look. “You’re usually sarcastic, but that had some actual venom behind it. What crawled in your ass this morning?”

He pushed his bangs out of his eyes and sighed, “Sorry… just had a date last night.”

Becky snapped her head over to him in surprise. “You did? Didn’t go well?”

He shrugged, “It was fine… first one since Renee… couldn’t really get into it.”

She nodded in understanding. She bumped his shoulder with her own. “I can’t promise it will get better, but I think you’re doing the right thing by trying to move on.”

“Yeah, well this afterlife stuff isn’t helping my headspace at all. I don’t want to think about that. Makes me think of her.”

Becky sighed and nodded, “I get you. But, the way you tell it, she was a literal angel, so I don’t doubt she’s treated as such in whatever actually happens in the afterlife.”

Dean seems to nod and sighs, releasing some of his tension from earlier. “The others still out there with the crazy old broad?”

Becky nodded. “Yeah, they need her to help find Baron’s body so that they can go and weaken him while we get to take a toasty vacation.”

He gives her a devilish smirk, which lightens her heart, knowing that they are on the same page again. “You take me to the most romantic places.”

She gives him a half-hearted punch to the shoulder before turning to watch the large, skull-faced man work.

 

Johnny was thoroughly creeped out by this entire situation. Really, how did he go from basic routine world ending threats to this magic shit? He blamed Becky and her weirdness for attracting it. Cause right now he’d rather be curled up with bad TV and Candice, but instead he was standing between rows of books, knowing if he touched the wrong thing he’d probably spontaneously combust. Jeff and Candice were both with the creepy old lady while he was trying not to think about his warm bed.

He stopped at a large black book with a rusted chain surrounding it. He frowned at it and took his chances by reaching out to touch it. The spine of it was cold to the touch and he hissed in surprise. He couldn’t shake the weird sense of foreboding that the book gave him but pulled himself away to go find Jeff and his girlfriend and the creepy old lady.

He found them around some type of orb, Mae’s hand on it and focusing, a weird blue glow around her. She muttered under her breath and Johnny sidled up behind Candice and tapped her shoulder. She didn’t even jump, it was hard to scare or surprise your super spy of a girlfriend, which sucks sometimes. She turned and leaned into to whisper.

“Trying to locate the wolf man. Hope you’re ready for a fight.”

He grinned at her cheekily and winked. Her lips quirked up in a small smile at his antics and she turned back to the old lady.

After murmuring to herself for a moment or two longer the glow around her faded and she sat up straighter, which was saying something for the level of her decrepitness. She looked back at them. “He’s moving towards Salem. Stands to reason with all the weird energy there since the Witch Trials. All supernatural beings are pulled to places like that. You can head him off there. I trust you all will give it your best and go down with some fight.”

Johnny coughed, “You mean you expect us to die?”

She shrugged. “Just calling it like I see it. Unstoppable wolf man whose nose makes Candice’s invisibility useless, and strength that could rip you in two pieces. I’m a realist, Mr. Gargano.”

“Well… thanks for the rousing speech to instill confidence as we go to our deaths.”

“You’re welcome.” 

Jeff, now turned back into Willow, cackled. He grabbed Johnny and Candice and teleported them to Salem. Johnny looked around and sighed, giving Willow and Candice a rueful smile, sounding more chipper than he felt.

“Well let’s prepare for our deaths as we hold off and unstoppable monster shall we?”

Candice grinned at him, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “The best date night a girl could ask for.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek.

 

Becky blinked open her eyes at the shove from Dean. The voodoo priest had been taking his sweet ass time, so Becky had naturally given into her concussion and fell asleep on Dean’s shoulder. It was a comfortable shoulder; sue her. She looked up and Dean who was looking straight ahead with a look that showed exactly how creeped out he was. When Becky followed his eyes, she saw why that was. 

Papa Shango was standing in the middle of a salt drawn pentagram, that they were unknowingly inside of, and in the center of this lovely picture were two stone spires that curved from long base on the ground, up into the air like a gateway. Surrounding them were dozens of candles, all lit along with the candles at the four posts outside the pentagram.

The voodoo priest saw them both awake, and without waiting for any comment from either of them, began chanting in a language Becky couldn’t understand. She scrambled to her feet, making sure her goggles and bandana had not slipped off. Dean followed her up in his usual leather jacket being pulled on from where he had set it aside. As Papa Shango’s eyes glowed red, the candles all increased in size, almost throwing their flames up to the ceiling of the small shop. The flames died down a bit as the chanting continued, but the reddish hue that they gave off did not. That was when Becky saw that it wasn’t the candles giving off that shade anymore, but a glowing red mist that seemed to hang between the two stone pillars in the middle of the pentagram. Her eyes widened, and blood rushed in her ears as the reality of the situation hit her. She was going to hell to get back a soul, cause that was a real thing she did now. Neither her nor Dean knew what awaited them past this gateway, and if they couldn’t get Baron’s soul back, not only would they lose Baron, but also his body would kill all their friends.

She didn’t have time to dwell on these thoughts long, because the silence now filled the room, the red mist still in front of them. And then, she couldn’t think because she felt an old, wrinkled hand on her back, pushing her forward. Mae was surprisingly strong, was all Becky could think before she was flung forward through the red mist. She felt herself falling, heat pressing onto her skin as she fell further in the darkness. She tried to ignite her flames to give her a slower descent, but she couldn’t spark a light. She braced herself to a splatter on the ground, and closed her eyes. 

That’s when a leather clad body slammed into hers, tucking himself underneath her. She opened her eyes to see Dean hugging her front, tucking her into his chest, and shielding all of her limbs with his back as they hurtled closer to the ground. Becky looked behind him; saw the craggy black earth coming up fast, with oceans of fire around it. How lucky of them to land on the earth and splatter instead of in the fire to be spit roasted. One last glance at the ground as it flew towards her before she felt Dean’s body thud and she thumped against him, the wind going out of her and falling into the black of her mind.

 

Johnny waited in the middle of a field, it was dark, and he was cold. He knew Candice was around, just invisible, but he felt rather alone. And bored. God, he was so bored. He plucked absentmindedly at his bowstring and sighed. He kicked a rock by his foot and into the darkness. He heard it hit something, followed by a growl. He turned, gulped, and opened his eyes, only to see two, wolf-like, yellow eyes staring back at him from the darkness where he’d just kicked the rock.

“I don’t suppose sorry is going to cut it with you, huh?” He chuckled nervously.

The beast lunged at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh where have we seen that book before... wonder why Mae has it... and how? Now Becky and Dean are in hell! Who or what will they find on their trip? Johnny, Candice, and Willow against the WOLF MAN!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Becky and Dean's Excellent Adventure (in hell)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! So, I think I've found a happy medium where I switch off stories every week, writing one chapter over the course of the week! Yay, go me for being organized! Oh and for personal news, I got into grad school! Yay! Anyway, this is the first part of Hell journey! I hope you like it, I suffered from a little block this time around, but I worked through it over a couple of hours, but it explains why this is a little shorter than the rest. Enjoy!

Becky groaned and sat up, looking around. The heat was oppressive wherever they had landed and the fire surrounding them only lit up the darkness. It was a soft glow like the glow of a campfire in pitch darkness. She sat up, seeing a path down the ridge they were on and sat there for a second. 

“I never knew you felt this way, Bex.” She frowned and looked down at Dean, who was still lying under her, and now that she had sat up she was effectively straddling him. She blushed, rushing to get up and only fell over on her side less than gracefully. He grinned, pushing himself up and dusting his jacket off. “So this is hell, huh? Thought it’d be scarier.” He frowned as his hand seemed to brush something and he reached his jacket pocket and pulled out two hourglass-like cartridges. A small note attached to one of them caught Becky’s attention as she reached for it and squinted in the less than stellar reading light to see what it said. 

“To help you carry your souvenirs. Signed by Mae Young.” Becky grunted with annoyance. “Least she didn’t leave us to figure out how to do it ourselves. Why are there two?”

Dean frowned, “I don’t know. In case one breaks?” He shrugged, “Mae probably has a reason even if it’s her own. We can’t do much now but go and find Corbin’s soul and see what happens. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it together.”

Becky smiled and looked down the path again. She couldn’t be for sure, but she could have sworn she’d felt eyes on them. It didn’t feel malevolent, but instead just sad. She looked around them, just to be sure that they were alone. They seemed to be in a cul-de-sac of a long path. “Guess we don’t have to decide which way to go either.” She gestured down the long path.

Dean sighed and nodded, already turning to walk down the rocky path that was laid out before them. He tucked the two hourglass cartridges into his jacket again. In the distance, Becky could have sworn she saw a large outcropping, flames higher than the rest, and on top of it, a single figure staring them down, something that wasn’t the sad feeling from before, but an intense burning rage. When she tried to squint to see it more clearly, a spurt of fire shot up from the lake of fire and when it disappeared, there was no figure.

Becky gulped, and tried to quash the feeling of dread that now crawled up her back. What was down here with them?

 

They had been walking for what seemed like a couple of hours. With little change in scenery it was tough to tell if they were getting closer to where they should be going, and tougher to tell the amount of time that passed. The only thing that seemed to keep them going was that the mountain, more like a volcano, was steadily growing in front of them as they neared it. Becky was so bored, a phrase which she did not think would come to her mind when a magical old lady told her that’d she’d have to literally go to hell, that she almost missed the first blue wisp of light shooting past them.

“What was that?” She looked to Dean, who looked stunned, and more alert than she had been, offering him a better initial look.

“No idea. Look, here come more.”

And just like he said, more wisps seemed to flee past them. Now that she was alert to them, she could track their movements and take in what they were. As she squinted, the blue wisps took a more recognizable form. People, see through and hued in blue spectral light, were running. If Becky thought about it, they were exactly what she thought someone’s soul would look like, if she had to hazard to guess a description. By the look on Dean’s face, he had come to a similar conclusion. Becky saw one, a small man looking over his shoulder, making it’s way towards her, and she stuck her hand out to ghost through his arm, just out of curiosity. They didn’t seem like they noticed her or Dean, so she figured it would just pass through her hand as if she wasn’t there.

What she did not expect for her fingers to wrap around the soul’s wrist and jerk it to a stop. She yelped and let go, the soul stumbling and falling to the ground in front of them. Becky looked over at Dean who seemed less freaked out than he had any right to be. He made his way over to the sprawled out man, reached out and grabbed the soul’s clothes, finding that his fingers did in fact grasp the seemingly see through energy, hoisted him up. 

The soul yelped in fear before looking between them and frowning in confusion. “You aren’t the Keeper.” The man was portly, with sunken eyes and a high voice.   
Dean lifted him easily. “Nope. This Keeper, I’m guessing he’s the one who keeps souls like you right?”

The man was struggling against Dean’s grip as he talked, but after a beat, a horn sounded in the distance and the man slumped, his fear bleeding out of him. Becky tilted her head to the side at the strange noise. “What was that?”

This time the man was more forthcoming with information. “The hunting horn of the keeper. He hunts us for sport. We already suffer enough down here, but he feeds off the energy of souls. He’s a sadist but it looks like he’s called off his hunt for the time being, which means he caught enough to satisfy him for now.”

Dean shook him a little, not being very kind to the exhausted soul. “Which way is his lair?”

The soul pointed the way that he had been running from. “In the cauldron of the mountain. You’ll recognize it by the silence and the cages of trapped souls.”

Becky frowned. “Why would it be silent?”

“Souls, when drained, can’t project their form and they can’t make much noise. The only way you’d hear someone in there is if you had a close relationship to them in life. You’d hear their whimpers.” He looks at the both of them and frowns, “Which is what you’re going for since you’re here to break someone out right?” He looked disturbed, “Sometimes its better not to know what happened to them.”

Becky didn’t really want to dwell on it; cause the spirit had a point. If Baron was suffering and she had to hear it… well, she wasn’t looking forward to it at all. Dean finally cleared his throat and set the soul down. “Now, last question. How do we get the soul back?”

The spirit chuckled out a high-pitched laugh. “Get one back? I don’t know! Only one man’s walked out of there before, and that’s because he’s related to the Keeper.” And with that the spirit morphed back into a wisp and flew off down the path.

Becky looked at Dean and sighed, “Doesn’t instill a lot of confidence does it?”

Dean sighed, “No… not really.” He paused as if debating to say something else. “It’s just… I’ve been hearing things down here since we got here, like a sad melody thrumming in my chest.” He looked uncomfortable about the possibilities of that. He rubbed his arms awkwardly, obviously worried about her reaction. But Becky always trusted him to know what he was talking about. But also as his friend, it was her job to protect him, and if the implications of what he was saying were what she was thinking… she didn’t want him to get his hopes up until they were sure.

She froze and listened as hard as she could, but heard nothing. “Maybe it’s just the creepy atmosphere, Dean. Nothing to worry about.” She paused and tried for a smile. “Except for the scary demon thing we are probably gonna have to fight.”

Dean took a shaky breath, obviously still hearing something she did not and nodded. “Well, let’s not keep him waiting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those interested, the small portly spirit was Paul Bearer. RIP. 
> 
> Hope you liked it! More to come in a week or two! More hell adventure, or maybe a check in with the surface team? 
> 
> Find out, next time!
> 
> I've been Enigma and I'll see you soon!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They reach the pit where the Keeper keeps his captured Souls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! So I started this two weeks ago, and planned to finish it, but then my week got super busy and then my birthday was on the 20th, and I went to Winnipeg to visit my Canadian friends for a week to celebrate. I had a lot of fun, but between doing escape rooms, drinking, playing overcooked and going out, I barely had any time or motivation to finish this chapter. Anyway, so that's why it's late and I suck :/ However, we are getting to the good parts of this story so I hope you enjoy. A special treat in this one for the people who have been following the series for a bit :)

Dean’s mood didn’t improve as they got closer to the caldera of the mountain. It seemed that whatever he heard was getting louder and harder to ignore. Becky was beginning to worry, having to basically pull Dean forward by his wrist to keep him moving. His head sunk further and further until he was squeezing his eyes shut in an effort to stop whatever voices were following him.

When they finally arrived at the top of the hill, the caldera just over a little embankment in front of them, Dean finally broke. He went down in a heap, his hands over his ears; his eyes squeezed shut and his breathing erratic. “Fuck!” He curled up, and Becky had to steady herself as she saw tears leak out of his eyes. She’d never seen him this rocked before, no matter what fight it was.

“Dean! We’re almost there!” She crouched down next to him while he shivered on the dusty ground.

“It’s her.” He gasped out. “She’s here.”

Becky frowned in confusion. “Dean, you’re not making any sense.”

He tried to push himself up, stumbling over to the small incline separating them from seeing down into the pit that housed what they were looking for. He threw himself up onto it so he could look down, and Becky rushed to join him. 

The pit was just that, a pit. Mounds of dust made small hills throughout it. Cages filled with the ethereal blue light of souls hung from these mounds, or lined against them in rows. Becky couldn’t tell any of them apart from each other, but as she passed over the small incline she was also hit with the first sound from below. It was a low rumbling almost. It felt sad, depressed, but accepting. That had to be Baron. He was the only one she would know well enough to hear if what the portly spirit said was true. 

Looking back over at Dean, he didn’t look much better, but he didn’t look like he’d keel over anytime soon. “I hear him, I think.” She told him. He nodded, the tears unashamedly falling from his face, and Becky could get it. If she could’ve heard these types of things for hours she might have broken too.

“It’s Renee.” That had Becky almost tripping down the hill. “I can hear her here. She shouldn’t be here.” Dean was right. Why was Renee here? The way Dean tells it, she was an angel in a human body. She should have been in the opposite of here.

“How is she here?” Becky asked, looking down and scanning any of the cages for her, only going off of what pictures that Dean had shown her, not that she would be able to tell any of the souls apart, because she didn’t know them. 

“I don’t know. I don’t care. I’m using one of the capsules to get her out of here. I don’t care what it takes.” He gave her a look. “That gonna be a problem?”

She almost wanted to laugh at the idea of Dean threatening her. But when she looked in his eyes she saw that it was a very real threat, coming from fear of having to fight her for what he needed to do. Not that he needed to threaten her. She was going to help in anyway that she could.

“Not at all. Let’s go get her and Baron and get them out of here. We can figure out the next steps later.” He breathed a sigh of relief and offered her a grin of thanks. “You good to go now?” He nodded and they both hopped the small slope and slid down to the bottom.

The slide down was surprisingly fun and cool looking, if Becky did say so herself. If it had been in any other venue other than hell, she would have wanted to go again. But as the slide down the gravelly slope ended, the emotion of the place hit her like a brick wall, and she’d know, she’d crashed into quite a few of them in her superhero career so far. The crushing sadness and pain weighed on her soul to the extent that it was hard to stand up. 

Unlike her, Dean was up and swiftly following whatever voice he heard with purpose. Now it was her that was struggling to catch up with him. He led them closer and closer to the center of the pit, and it was only when turning the last corner of the maze of cages, when Dean stopped at one. He breathed out shakily. It took Becky’s eyes a moment to adjust when staring at the floating blue spirit, just like it had with the portly man, but what she saw even made her mind stop. 

A young blonde woman was curled up on the floor of the cage, seemingly asleep. She was exactly like she appeared in Dean’s pictures at the bar. She had a serene face, blonde tresses, though shorter now than they had been in the old pictures, and a spritely figure. Becky looked at Dean and the amount of grief and love on his face was so intense that Becky hurt for her friend. She immediately started in on the lock, seeing as Dean seemed to be lost in his own mind. That’s why, as she was melting it between her hands, she was surprised when he spoke in the softest voice she'd ever heard come from him.

“Renee, sweetheart. Wake up.”

He had crouched down on his haunches, his hands on the bars. Renee shifted and turned away. She was muttering to herself. “It’s not real. Just another vision.”

Dean looked pained, but he rattled the bars to get her attention and her head snapped back over to look at him properly now. “I’m real.” He choked out. “I’m very real. And we are getting you out of here. Look at me!”

She sat up, sitting on her butt, hands moving to grasp the bars. “Dean?” He nodded, and ghosted his fingers over hers that were now in his reach. The touch seemed to do it and she lunged at the cage to get as much of Dean as she could, hugging through the bars as much as she could. 

Becky let them have their moment, as the metal lock melted in her hand and fell off the cage to the ground. She waited, her hand on the cage to pull it open. After a minute or so of them holding each other, Becky couldn’t help herself. “You guys can ghost make out later, I got the cage open and we got one more person to find.”

That seemed to get Dean’s ass into gear as he threw the cage door open and gathered Renee into his arms. She seemed to sink into his embrace and if Becky wasn’t still feeling the weight of Baron’s emotions in this place, she might have even ‘aww’ed. Dean stood back and gave Renee a look. She nodded and he held out the lantern-like canister. Renee seemed to sigh in relief as her essence was brought into the lantern and soon there was a pleasant faint blue glow to it. Dean seemed to sigh with relief and tuck it back into his jacket. He looked at Becky, happy tears sliding down his face and he nodded in thanks. “Introductions later. Let’s find Baron… then I have some questions for the old hag on why Renee was down here.”

Becky nodded and dashed around the corner, only to be smacked across the clearing with no warning. She crashed into a cage and stood up groggily. She saw the shape of Dean struggling with something or someone far larger than him. It didn’t take long for Dean to join her on the ground after getting a boot to the chest. He cursed and scrambled up. The thing in front of them looked like a giant man. It wore a red and black mask; it’s stringy hair around its face hung loose and wild. 

Becky gulped and readied herself, hands catching ablaze. “What the fuck is that?”

The giant man lumbered over and answered her questions before Dean could in a almost robotic like monotone. “I am the Keeper of Souls. I am Kane. You are trespassers. Die.”   
Then he charged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Renee is back! This makes me think of one of the comments on Shield Origin that asked if Renee was going to die and I had to hold off cause I'd been planning to bring her back even before I knew she was going to die in the first place. The question is, how do they get her back, and why was she so important that Mae Young interfered in her death or whatever. You'll have to wait a bit longer to find out what happens with Renee now, but she and Dean are somewhat reunited! Yay! And now, they must fight Kane :D I left lots of little hints that it was him, so I hope it wasn't too much of a surprise :)  
> See you guys next time!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hell in a Cell... get it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! So, I know I haven't updated this in a while, but I do writing when I can and I've been preparing for the next expansion on World of Warcraft x.x I'm so tired. Plus Netflix decided to release a lot of new seasons for shows of mine in June. I finally finished Wynonna Earp season 2 last night and I'm finally caught up enough. Now I just gotta watch Luke Cage and Agents of Shield

Becky was finding hell to be a very annoying place. She coughed some dust out of her mouth as she struggled to find her feet again. They’d been fighting with the Keeper of Souls for what seemed like hours now. Becky felt basically useless, as from the first charge when she’d let an absolute inferno shoot from her hands and directly hit Kane; he’d pushed through as if she was spraying him with a squirt gun. The fact that he was immune to fire meant she was basically trying to hit the giant demon with her fists, and while she knew she packed a decent punch to a normal person, it seemed as if she was simply a gnat to him.

Dean on the other hand was having more success. His indestructability was keeping him, not only alive, but also going toe to toe with the demon. He was taking an awful lot of punishment though; his clothes were in tatters. He was fighting like a man possessed though. This was a man that had to get out of here alive to bring the love of his life back, he wasn’t going to let some stupid, nine foot, demon asshole stop him. And Becky was resolved to get him out of here. If there was anyone who deserved that kind of reunion, it was her best friend.

She pushed herself up and frowned. She was absolutely no help in this fight, but she wasn’t going to sit back like some damn useless damsel while Dean did all the heavy lifting. They needed to find a way to overpower the giant, but even with Johnny, Candice, and Willow here, she’s not sure that’d be possible. She didn’t need to be strong right now; she needed to be smart on how she gave them the advantage. 

Her eyes locked with the cage that she had been thrown into, the blue light glowing faintly in it. That’s when she realized truly that she was in hell. Aside from meddling witches, like Mae, this place was for the evil and damned of their world. The worst of the worst was cast down here, and Kane was a hunter. He’d only go after the true prizes, the most evil. She grinned to herself. She was either crazy or a genius, though, in her mind, what was the difference?

She took the lock into her hand again and super heated her hand, melting it off in just a few seconds. She pulled the door open and the spirit, now visible to her, looked at her in confusion. “I’m paying bail for everyone. You all don’t want to come back in these cages, you stay here until everyone’s out. Got it, asshole?”

The spirit just stared at her wide-eyed before nodding slowly. She nodded, moving to the next cage and repeating her action. She grinned, she did always love that part in Lord of the Rings. With any luck, she’d get to live out that particular fantasy.

 

Dean was not having the best time at the moment, but otherwise, it was a pretty decent day. He’d found the love of his life and saved her from eternal damnation. Just getting that warmth in his arms again after so long was… it was indescribable. But, the issue at the moment, threatening to ruin his day, was the nine-foot all-powerful demon that kept smacking him around like a children’s punching bag. Just because damage didn’t show or penetrate Dean’s skin didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt like a bitch.

After a particularly nasty blow, Dean pushed himself up and realized that he was the only one still attacking the monster. Becky had either been knocked out or up to something. Dean knew she’d never ditch him, and would only give up if she’d been taken down. She needs time for whatever she was planning so Dean ran at the demon and pushed his shoulder into the demon’s gut. When he didn’t budge Dean moved his arm down, hooking it up and hitting him right in the crotch. For the first time in their fight, he seemed to actually wound it. 

Kane staggered back, groaning out in his robotic voice. Dean capitalized on it, jumping on his back and wrapping an arm around his throat, squeezing. The demon tried to throw him off, but Dean held on tight. He even held on through the demon ramming his back into the metal cages near them. Dean simply closed his eyes and thought of Renee and how he refused to die here. It wasn’t until he heard Becky shout at him to move that he opened his eyes and peered past the hulk of a man he was attached to that he realized what Becky’s plan had been.

Thousands of blue lights stood behind her, angry and evil spirits staring at him and Kane with fury. He dropped, sprinting away as Becky held her arm out, yelling a battle cry as the spirits charged past her, knocking into the demon and toppling him over with a roar of pain.

Dean tried to tune it all out, but it was a little hard to do when there were differing squishes and squelches that he didn’t want to think about. Becky grinned at him. “So that’s coming off the bucket list.” She looked around. “I released most of them, but I think Baron is around here.” She tilts her head, listening for anything familiar before her head turns up. Dean follows her and notices a cage hanging over their recent battlefield, a blue glow coming for it. 

He cups his hands, allowing Becky to step into them. He hoisted her up, letting her flames catch and provide some extra lift. She grabbed onto the cage, looking inside. She super heated her hands and ripped the door off the melted frame. She sought the lantern that allowed them to carry souls with them back to the mortal world from her pocket and held it into the cage. Dean could hear her talking, but couldn’t make out any of the words she was using until she growled. “Just get in, you absolute asshole!” He smirked as the blue glow disappeared and the lantern began to glow faintly with the same light. Yeah, he would be scared of an angry Becky too.

She hopped back down, letting him catch her. She grinned. “Okay, mission complete!” She paused, looking around. “Any idea on how to get out of here.”

He frowned, looking around as well. He didn’t know anything about magic. Mae hadn’t really given them an instruction manual either. “Click our heels three times?”

She gave him a withering look to show that his humor was really not appreciated. Then she looked down at the lantern and examined it. As she looked at the bottom it had a dial. She flipped it to the other side and it hummed to life, her form fading out from Dean’s arms as she was encompassed in a blue arcane glow. In a moment she was gone and Dean scrambled for his own lantern. He gazed at it for a moment, relief coursing through him that he had Renee back, anger because she had been down here, confusion and rage that Mae had somehow known this and wanted to play games with him. 

She was going to answer his questions whether she wanted to or not. He turned the dial, feeling his body become weightless as he was sucked back up to the mortal world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Dean gets to have a small chat with Mae and maybe get some things revealed. Then we are gonna have to go and save the other three of the team and save Baron! 
> 
> I'm not totally happy with this chapter, but it is what it is lol But, we are nearing the end, so I hope this is enough to tide you over until I can update again!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The return from hell, and the final showdown with the beast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I'm actually pretty happy with this chapter! I left some pretty hidden references that I hope at least someone will appreciate cause they made me smirk for sure! This was the final chapter of this story. There will be one more, shorter, that's just wrapping everything up and setting us up for the next adventure!
> 
> Enjoy!

Let it be said that Becky had great respect for the elderly when they weren’t mad old witches that sent her to hell. So she thought she got a pass when she stalked after Mae when she appeared back on the mortal plane. Her hands were aflame and her hair smoldering at the ends of her braids near her ear. Mae simply raised an eyebrow, bringing her nice china cup up to her lips to sip the steaming tea from it. She had a mirror laid out before her on the doily-covered table. 

Becky was more than a little thrown off by her nonchalance when faced with an angry girl with flame powers. However, it was not her that Mae had to worry about. Dean charged past her, grabbed Mae by her throat and lifted her up. “You have some explaining to do.” His voice was flat, with anger brimming under it that said he was very much not playing around. Mae actually seemed surprised that he’d lifted her so easily. “Why was Renee down there!?”

Mae coughed and wheezed for a second. “A mistake. I only knew about it.” Becky saw something flash in her face and she growled at her too.

“Liar! You made sure she went there!”

Mae continued to struggle a bit in Dean’s strong grip. “I did it,” she gasped, making a gurgling sound, “to help!”

Dean almost squeezed too tight. “Help!? How does her being there help!”

The old woman struggled, not able to speak because of her current predicament in Dean’s grip. Dean held her there for another moment before finally dropping her back on the floor gracelessly. She wheezed and got her breath back. “How does her being there help? Answer before I don’t loosen my grip next time.”

Mae looked back up at him with an unreadable expression. “Because if she went where she was supposed to go, you’d never get her back.”

Dean froze. “Get her back? Like… to life?”

She nodded. “The world has a million stories of people coming back to life from hell or the underworld. Orpheus and Eurydice being a prime example. No one speaks of pulling someone from paradise to bring them back to life.” She said this patronizingly, her fear of Dean seeming to disappear.

Becky spoke up. “And why do you care? You don’t do anything unless it benefits you or whatever it is you want.”  
She simply looked at Becky and smirked. “Guess you’ll have to take that chance.”

Becky lit her hands on fire, stalking towards her, only to have Dean throw his arm out to block her. “How do I bring her back? Are you going to do it?”

She shakily stood on her legs, collapsing back into her chair. “If I could do that darling, I wouldn’t go through all this trouble of manipulating you.” She stares at him. “The deserts of Texas. There is a… being that can help you with what you seek. Find him and he’ll have the ability to bring her back fully.”

Becky frowned. “And how can we even trust that information from you? Don’t you have something more specific than a desert in Texas?”

Mae snorted. “Information I do not have. That’s as close to a specific place that I can give you. As for whether you trust that there is a being that can help, you can ask your friend Finn. He will tell you of this being as well. Finding him is up to you.”

Dean looked down at the lantern and frowned in thought. “And what do you get out of this.”

Mae simply grasped the mirror and held it up to them. Images flashed of Johnny, his face bloody as he shot arrows over an unconscious Candice. Willow being hammered into the ground causing a crater in the field that they were in. “Do you really have time for me to get into that?”

Her eyes glowed purple and a small portal opened up beside them. Dean and Becky looked at one another, nodding and tucking Renee’s lantern away. They grabbed hands and sent one last glare at the smirking sorceress before leaping into the portal, hoping they were not too late to save their friends, all their friends.

 

The scene they came upon as they appeared from the portal was pure chaos. Johnny had an empty quiver and his bow was broken in half. He seemed to be trying to use both of the pieces to whack the beast with, but it was proving as ineffective as all of his arrows had seemed to. Candice had been knocked out, leaning up against a tree, blood dripping down from somewhere in her hairline. Willow was battering the beast, who looked at least a little bit tired, with his fists, his increased strength doing the most damage to the beast.

Becky and Dean looked at one another and sprung into action without much thought. Dean dove in front of a clubbing blow, meant for Johnny and stopped it in its tracks with his invulnerability. The beast looked surprised, his hairy, muzzled face splitting into a deep frown with a growl. Becky didn’t allow him to simmer for long as she launched a big flaming shot at his back. He howled in pain, dealing with attacks from four sides. He tried to batter them all away, but they all held strong.

“Nice of you to join us!” Johnny yelled at Becky. “Did you take your time getting a tan or something?”

Becky grinned at him, even as she dodged another strike. “Had to stop for coffee.” She shot a blast of flames at the beast’s legs and he tripped over himself trying to dodge it. He fell right onto a cackling Willow who used his feet to kick into the beast’s spine and launch him up into the air, right into Johnny swinging his broken bow down onto his skull. He landed with a thud, Dean moving over to try to hold him down. 

The best still had some fight, even as the heroes all crowded around him. He reached up, closing his clawed hand along Becky’s throat. Even as she tried to breathe the claws dug into the back of her neck, and his palm cut off her airflow. She gasped, struggling and beginning to panic, before she saw Candice’s boot collide with the beasts elbow, a sickening snap of a bone breaking sounded throughout the field and Becky was released while all the others piled on to the beast to hold him down. Candice had regained consciousness, though she still looked woozy and had just saved Becky’s life; she was doing her best to pile on with her teammates.

Dean nodded to Becky even as he fought to subdue the beast with his entire body. “Use the Lantern!”

Becky grabbed it and held it out, not entirely sure what she needed to do with it. She held it out, but nothing happened. Johnny grunted in pain as he tried his best to hold the beast’s strong neck. “Any day now!”

She shook the lantern, and yet still nothing happened. She growled and struck it with her palm on the bottom, like trying to get ketchup out of a bottle. “Get your ass out here, Baron!”

The glow from the lantern finally turned on and shone brightly as a blue ball of light slowly lifted out of it and into the air. It hovered for a second, as if surveying the situation before shooting down into the beast’s chest. The beast howled in what seemed to be pain, its muscles tensing in all of its extremities and throwing the rest of her team off of him as he seemed to begin an epileptic episode almost, or at least something that resembled one. Then, in equal parts blue and red lights began to shine on the outside of the beast’s skin, moving and seeming to war with one another for dominance. 

Becky helped everyone stand up, ignoring the blood trickling down her neck as the lights battled it out, or rather the souls battled one another. She silently willed Baron to fight hard, to eliminate the beast and break the curse for good. Her silent support didn’t seem to cut it as the red light began to steadily overtake the blue light. She bit her lip, tears beginning to prick her eyes inside her goggles. Baron was losing. As the red began to overtake completely, one single spot on the right side, near where his heart would be, flared with blue and began to push back harder, earning some ground back. With one more howl of pain, the blue surged back out from its strong center and eliminated every last trace of red.

The beasts fur and wolf-like snout receded and her boss appeared from it all, looking peaceful. She grinned happily, even though he was still unconscious, he was alive… and naked. She adverted her eyes and blushed. “Oh god.” She looked over at her friends who all seemed to be looking other places other than down, the same as her. All except Candice that is, who caught her eyes and gave her a conspiratorial wink. 

“Huh, not bad.” She watched Johnny whip his eyes to Candice, looking affronted. Candice simply cackled and patted his cheek before placing a bloody kiss on his cheek, moving to wipe it off with her thumb.

Dean shook his head at their antics before looking at Becky. “It’s over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Happy Ending!
> 
> Now, as I said, there will be one more chapter that I will try to get out in the next couple of days. Look for it tomorrow or Wednesday!
> 
> See you soon!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, here's a fun little epilogue for everyone that closes this story and sets up the next one!

Once Baron had woken up, he’d been found some clothes, and was coherent enough to make intelligent conversation, Willow had transported them all back to the city, back to Baron’s garage, which was still under repair. Baron was now sitting in his office, rubbing his head, apparently taking his body back from his second soul had a bit of a hangover type effect on him. Becky and the rest of her team were all patching each other up as best they could. Candice needed to probably see a cash only clinic about her head, but it had stopped bleeding and was patched up for now. Johnny probably had at least three cracked ribs, while Dean and Willow just seemed tired. 

As for Becky herself, she was too wired to feel any possible tiredness that she had currently. She’d saved her boss, and even though her work place was still pretty banged up from their fight, she was just happy that Baron had his life back now with an endless future of opportunities waiting for him to do whatever he wanted. She saw him sitting behind his desk, typing on the computer and stretching out his sore neck. When his eyes locked with hers, he motioned her into the room. She took a peak to make sure the rest of her team was occupied before removing her goggles and slipping into his office.

They stared at each other for a minute in silence. Becky was the one to break it first. “So, how long before this did you know I was a superhero?”

Baron leaned back in his chair. “After you came out of your coma is when I put it together. Didn’t have a problem with it. As long as you didn’t let it effect your work here, I figured I wouldn’t have to say anything.”

She hummed. “So, what is up that you want to speak to me privately, if it’s not to grill me about my powers.”

He stared at her for a bit, seemingly thinking something big over in his mind. Becky wasn’t sure why, but she got a small sense of foreboding from him as he sat there. It was like her hair was standing on end, like this was the start of events that had been set into motion that would bring about greater and greater tests for her. She wasn’t sure if her body’s reaction was one of fear… or excitement. “I am leaving.” He leaned forward now, tattooed arms lying horizontally on the desk. “I was on borrowed time with my family’s curse, and now… I don’t know what I want or what I can do with it broken. I need some time outside of the city to think.”

Becky’s heart fell. “You’re going to take off and close down the shop?”

He shook his head, giving her a wry smile. “I’m taking off and leaving the shop… to you.” Becky’s eyes widened a bit. “Don’t give me that surprised look. Despite your extracurricular activities, you always come in here to help, you cover people’s shifts when you can, you care about the customers, I’d even say too much…” He chuckled at those words, making a small smile appear on Becky’s own face. “You were always going to get this place. You’re a good engineer and mechanic, Becky, and a good person, so it’s yours.”

She blinked back some tears in her eyes, Baron looking supremely uncomfortable after he noticed them. She stood and moved over to the side of his desk, leaning down to hug him. His arms shot out to the side, as far from touching her as possible. “Stop this.”

“No.”

“Stop it, or I’ll give it to someone else.” She giggled at his consternated tone.

She let go, still smiling. He straitened his clothes out from her hug. “Don’t worry, I’m still an owning partner in the shop, so money won’t be any tighter than normal, just don’t burn the shop down.”

“You got it… partner.”

He sighed, standing up and grabbing his motorcycle jacket. “I’m already regretting this.”

Becky followed him out, as he got onto his bike and started it up. “Does this means we’re friends now?”

He paused, tilting his head, seeming to think it over. He turned back to her and shouted over the motor of his bike. “It means I owe you one.”

Becky figured that was the best she was going to get, as he merged onto the early morning streets and disappeared around the corner. 

She felt Dean more than heard him appear beside her. He let her have a moment in private to say goodbye to her boss, but now it seemed like he was done being patient. “We need to talk to Finn.” He held out the lantern containing Renee’s soul. “If we can bring her back… I’m doing it. I don’t care what Mae’s play is.”

She nodded, agreeing whole-heartedly. “I can call Bayley. She can probably get him to meet us. Finn’s an agreeable guy, I’m sure he’ll help any way that he can.”

Dean hummed noncommittally. “I hope you’re right. Go ahead and call her.”

Becky reached into her secure pocket and pulled out her phone, pressing the phone icon on her open text chat with Bayley. She was an incredibly happy go lucky person who woke up early, so Becky assumed she’d be up.

 

Dean watched Becky put the phone to her ear with nervous anticipation. He needed a big time nap, but then, he wasn’t going to stop until Renee was back and whole again. Becky brightened and chirped a ‘hey’ into the phone, so Dean assumed Bayley had picked up. Becky’s face frowned with confusion.

“Why do you sound so out of breath? Its six in the morning.” Becky paused and her face scrunched up with horror. “Tell Paige I can hear her and that you guys are gross.” Becky waited and then growled out. “Tell her to stop laughing! Why did you even pick up the phone if you were…” Becky ran a hand down her face and croaked out. “This is how I die.” She glanced over at Dean. “Listen, real quick and I’ll let you get back to… yeah. Dean and I, we need to meet with Finn as soon as demonly possible.” She paused her eyes darted over to him. “Lunch today?” Dean nodded. “Make it one pm. See you there.” She hit the end call button and nodded at him.

He sighed, his shoulders seeming to relax. Finn would have answers for them, and even if he had to search for years, he would find a way. He looked down at the lantern in his hand and brought it to his chest. He could feel the warmth seeping from it, the brush along the corner of his consciousness that felt familiar. She was there, and it was time to right the biggest wrong in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Speaking of the next story, I gotta be up front and honest with you all. So, while I do have all these super hero stories planned out, they, for some reason, take a lot out of my to write and the motivation for them is very fleeting. Comments and stuff do help, but with me starting grad school in August, my updates to these stories are going to become infrequent. Doesn't mean I'm abandoning them at all, but when I can pump out 6k words a chapter for my Bechloe Pokemon AU in one day and I struggle for 1k in these stories over several, you know something is up, so the next story: Renee Rebirth, will be happening, but it will be spaced out to let me write some other things that I think I can get out fast and be done with so it stops clogging up my story ideas notes.
> 
> I love you guys, and you are all amazing!

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully you guys are as stoked for the next chapter. Fire vs. the beast! And is it too late for Baron's soul?


End file.
